


in another universe

by mysterytwin



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: (slightly) inspired by I'll Give You The Sun, Angst, Fluff, Gen, a bunch of aus, i just love them okay, it's one of those 5+1 type of things, platonic sibling stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 15:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8806042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysterytwin/pseuds/mysterytwin
Summary: In other universes, Dipper and Mabel aren't the same people. Things don't turn out the same way twice and a lot of things can change with one decision. [alternatively — five different universes and one that gets it right]





	

In another universe, Dipper chooses Wendy over Waddles. He doesn’t say anything when Mabel bangs her head against the pole repeatedly. He just takes her hand and drags her back inside the Shack.

She’s quiet for days. Mabel doesn’t speak or do anything productive; she just lies on her bed, every ticking second passing by without a single word. She doesn’t go outside or design sweaters or work on her scrapbook. She’s quiet and numb and she feels like she just lost her soulmate.

Dipper doesn’t notice any of this. He’s too busy with Wendy, too busy caring about a girl who will never see him anything more than a friend, and too busy trying to be cool and something he’s not. He sleeps with a content smile every night and doesn’t bother to ask his sister how her day went. He’s too high up in the clouds to notice how low on the ground he’s left his sister.

Days pass and not a single word breaks their silence and Dipper is too happy and Mabel is too sad. As much as it pains her, she tells herself to suck it up because her brother deserves to be happy. She’s always wanted him to be happy, right? But why did it have to come with such a huge price?

It hits her one night. A plan formulates itself in her mind and part of her feels guilty for doing it. Maybe Dipper will be happier if she does it. Maybe he’ll realize that him and Wendy aren’t really going anywhere. Waddles can make him happy, right? She wants to be happy. She deserves to be happy, too, doesn’t she?

With newfound determination, Mabel grabs the time measuring tape and goes back to the day he didn’t pick Waddles.

She changes his past, like how he changed her future.

 

* * *

 

In another universe, Mabel doesn’t run away when Dipper tells her about the apprenticeship. She swallows her words, heart in her mouth, and tells him that she’s happy for him. She doesn’t get mad, she doesn’t fight for herself, she just nods her head and slumps her shoulders. Dipper only grins and hugs her.

She doesn’t hug back, though. Her eyes dim, but she’s happy for him. Really, she is. This is all he’s ever wanted. This is his dream. She can’t take this away from him. Summer may be ending and she might have to ride the bus home alone, but she takes comfort in the fact that he’ll be happy.

This is okay with her. This is okay with her. This is okay with her.

Dipper disappears on most days for the rest of the summer. She catches a glimpse of him holding a snow globe with black snow inside with Grunkle Ford, but she doesn’t ask what it is. It’s their thing, she assumes.

On most days, she spends her time with Waddles and Grunkle Stan watching Ducktective. She tells him one time, how she feels about Dipper taking the apprenticeship. Grunkle Stan isn’t very reassuring.

She almost tells Dipper one time, how he shouldn’t leave her alone, but she bites her tongue back. Mabel hopes he’ll stay true to his word to call once a day. She’s not sure if she can live without talking to him. He’s her best friend and it’s scary to imagine the days she’ll be sad with no one to bring her out of Sweater Town. Dipper won’t be there to help her with her homework or to pull of shenanigans on days they feel like being mischievous.

Who’s going to remind her to stay on earth when her head’s up in the clouds, soaring the sky? Who’s going to hold her hand when she has nightmares at night? Who’s going to share her awkward sibling hugs? No one.

Her heart sinks in her chest at the thought of the end of summer only being less than a week away. And there’s nothing she can do about it.

 

* * *

 

In another universe, Mabel and Dipper aren’t siblings. They’re not friends, they don’t talk, and they just don’t know one another personally.

Mabel wishes they did. Dipper seems pretty cool, no matter how dorky he might seem. She’s seen him with that really cool project at the science fair once, and she was amazed it. They could be friends…if she wasn’t so afraid to talk to him.

Dipper can be intimidating when he wants to. Scary, sometimes, when he’s determined to do something. Besides, he might not even like her. They’re, like, complete opposites. He would never want to be her friend.

That’s where she’s wrong. Dipper wants to be her friend as much as she does. She’s so friendly, like socializing just comes naturally to her or something. He’s amused by her unlimited amount of sweaters, too. How does she come with all the designs? How does she have so much time?

He knows not everyone likes her, they think she’s too loud or annoying. But the best flowers are the most vibrant ones, aren’t they? Dipper likes that about her. She has the qualities he wishes he had, but he’s not jealous or anything like that. Although he does think that they’d make pretty good friends.

They’re partnered up in class one day, but they’re strictly business. Well, as strictly business they can be with Mabel around. They don’t say much that isn’t relevant, and before Mabel can cough up enough courage to ask him to sit with her during lunch, the bell rings and he’s gone without another word.

It goes on like that for years and years until they bump into each other on the street. They haven’t seen each other in years. They stay strangers.

And for once, they’re not DipperandMabel — they’re just Dipper and Mabel.

 

* * *

 

In another universe, they hate each other. It’s common among siblings to bicker and fight, but they don’t talk at all. They don’t speak, and when they do, it’s to complain about one another. Dipper and Mabel just don’t get along.

Dipper hates her cheeriness. She’s never serious, and she talks way too loud for his liking. She’s too bright and too…Mabel. She wears sweaters in the middle of the summer, which is ridiculous, and she always makes mistakes. She meows herself to sleep, too — who does that? And she’s everything he’s not.

She’ll mess up the project he’s been working for three months straight because of her stupid Mabel Juice and she’ll get away with it because Mom and Dad just love her. And it’s totally unfair.

Mabel hates how Dipper’s way too serious. He can never take a joke, and he’s always thinking about some random conspiracy and he keeps on reading at night. She can’t even sleep properly anymore. Ugh, stupid books. And he’s ridiculously smart, too. He’ll always say words she doesn’t understand and he beats her at every single board game that exists. It totally sucks.

So when they get sent to Gravity Falls to bond, it feels like they’d rather have the end of the world.

In the end, they do have the end of the world, but they don’t save it in time. They only makes things worse. They stand back and watch as someone else serves as the hero of the day. They’re not the Mystery Twins.

And they never will be.

 

* * *

 

In another universe, they never go to Gravity Falls. Mabel continues to make her sweaters and cuddles her cat, and Dipper continues to play his video games. Nothing weird ever happens, nothing strange occurs to them, and the Mystery Twins never happen. They’re normal.

Once or twice, their parents mention spending the summer with their great uncle, but nothing ever happens. Nothing changes between them. Summer becomes boring, the days begin to blend into one another. Everything stays completely the same.

One day, they hear about some guy being taken by the U.S government for trying to steal nuclear waste from the labs. His name is Stanford Pines and he’s their great uncle. He wears this weird red fez hat on his head and a black suit and calls himself Mr. Mystery. Owner of the Mystery Shack, and a man who’s escapade the law too many times to count.

Their parents are shocked by the news and glad they never sent their children to Gravity Falls in the first place.

Dipper and Mabel agree, but later that night, they talk about how cool their summer could’ve been if they had left for the town in the middle of nowhere. It’s tugging and mysterious and way better than staying home all day. Dipper wants to go exploring and find new things and Mabel’s always wanted an Epic Summer Romance. They could’ve found everything they wanted. They were so close, yet so far.

And maybe Grunkle Stan turns out to be a criminal, but at the same time, that would have been really cool. And scary. But cool.

If only they had left.

 

* * *

 

In another universe, Mabel and Dipper go to Gravity Falls and experience the best summer of their lives. They discover new things and they fall in love and get their hearts broken. They find family and friends and adventure, everything they could ever want.

Mabel learns to love herself in the end, and Dipper learns that maybe he shouldn’t grow up too fast. Grunkle Stan becomes the best relative in the world, and Grunkle Ford becomes a lesson that follies can be overcome by familial love. Wendy and Soos become family and Candy and Grenda become best friends.

They learn to watch out for the paranormal, but to love it at the same time. They’re the Mystery Twins and a bond that can never be broken. They turn thirteen and still stay as childish as ever.

A town in the middle of nowhere brings Dipper and Mabel even closer than ever. They’ve experienced danger and they’ll stick to each other through thick and thin.

In any universe, they’ll always be part of the same story. What matters is if they make the right decisions. They’re stars on a collision course, bound to end up in the same galaxy.

In any universe, they will be Dipper and Mabel, no matter the circumstance so. They might not be friends, they might not be siblings, and they might not like each other, but he’ll still be Dipper and she’ll still be Mabel.

In any universe, their stings are tied together with an unbreakable knot. He’ll be the pine tree and she’ll be the shooting star. Summer will end, but that doesn’t mean that their story is over. It’s them against the world.

In any universe, they’ll tell different stories and be different people.

It just so happens that one universe got it right.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu at superishs.tumblr.com!!


End file.
